Family fun activities

Here’s a collection of activities, games and things to make and do together, all of which extend and expand the in-game fun beyond the Guardians of Ancora app. Look through this collection and choose one or more ideas to help your family enjoy faith-forming activities together.

New activity ideas are added for eachBible Quest, as well several collections of activities about prayer, storiesand so on. Look out for more Family Activity downloads, on guardiansofancora.com

A quick introduction to spiritual styles

Family activities from Guardians of Ancora are devised to inspire varied ways of knowing God: four distinct avenues for connecting with him through word, emotion, symbol, and action. These ‘spiritual styles’ are broad approaches to spirituality and faith, through which children experience God and make sense of their lives in the world around them.

If you want to find out more about spiritual styles, this article is a helpful introduction to a fascinating topic:

My three words

the Bible words from the story you’re looking at (use a printed Bible or download fromwww.biblegateway.com or find the words at the Timeline in Guardians of Ancora)

three pieces of paper, per person

pens or pencils

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora,this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

Give each person three pieces of paper.

Have one person read the Bible passage out loud while the others listen. They should choose three words that they think are important, interesting or puzzling and write one word each on a piece of paper.

Swap, with another person reading the Bible passage and the first “reader” choosing and writing down their three words.

Show each other your three words and explain why you chose them.

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Family “podcast”

Bible link

any

What you need:

a camera, tablet or phone with features for recording audio and video

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora,this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

Make a recording of your own telling or reading of the Bible story. Use unusual, funny or dramatic voices. Add sound effects and music tracks for added flair.

Make recordings on your own or as a family and save them on your device.

Make time as a household to sit down and listen to the finished product – with great cheering and applause, of course!

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Pick a picture

Bible link

any

What you need:

pictures of Jesus

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora,this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

Different stories show us different sides of Jesus’ character. No one really knows what he looked like, but lots of people have tried to show how they imagine him. Go to the collection of “Faces of Jesus” at

Chat together about which image of Jesus seems most like the person your child has just been reading about. Say something like:

How do you imagine Jesus?

Could any of these pictures be the Jesus in the story?

What kind of person is Jesus?

What does he do or say to show that part of who he is and what he is like?

This activity will inspire children with a symbol-centred approach to knowing God.

The “Jesus puzzle”

Bible link

any

What you need:

Guardians of Ancora installed on a device

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora,this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

There are lots of things to think about and puzzle over in reading the stories of the Bible, but one of the most important questions is “What does this say about Jesus?”

Suggest to your child that they start making and collecting their ideas on the HUB feature on Guardians of Ancora (tap the icon on the bottom-left of the screen).

Each time a story about Jesus is read, remind your child to add some pieces of info to their HUB collection. They’ll be getting lots of ideas, prompts and questions from the game to get them started.

This activity will inspire children with a symbol-centred approach to knowing God.

“What happens next…”

Bible link

any

What you need:

a tablet with an animation app installed

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora,this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

Lots of the stories in the Bible just give us a short snapshots of Jesus and the people he met. It leaves us lots of room for wondering and imagining what happened next. Read the Bible story together and then come up with ideas about:

What might have happened next to some of the individual characters?

What might have changed in the village or city that Jesus visited?

You could have some fun with a simple animation app creating a “What happened next?” scene.

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Anything like this?

Bible link

any

What you need:

a camera, tablet or phone with features for recording audio and video

What you do:

Any time when your child has just been discovering something from the Bible on Guardians of Ancora, this is a way you can share that with them, and chat about it together.

Children love telling their own stories, and sharing stories is a great way to strengthen your relationship with your child, showing you have a few moments to listen to them as well as sharing things from your own experience.

Use events from a Bible story to prompt the question: “Has anything like this ever happened to you?”

It could be something to do with the setting of the story (fishing on a beach, seeing soldiers or being in a large crowd, for example) or something that happens in the story (such as helping a friend, sharing food or something surprising happening).

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Puppet stories

Bible link

any

What you need:

paper bags

felt-tip pens

What you do:

Make puppets and use them to tell a Bible story. It’s easy to make puppets from paper bags – just draw or paint faces on them and put your hand inside to make the puppet move. Or make your puppets from junk materials, such as food packets or bottles.

Choose a story with just a few characters to start with, for example Luke 1:5–25 (Zechariah and the angel) or Mark 5:25–34 (Jesus heals a woman). Then, if you enjoy it, try Mark 5:21–24,35–43 (Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter) or Mark 10:46–52 (Blind Bartimaeus).

A simple way of making a puppet show is to have two puppets appear from behind a table. Someone could read the Bible story while the puppets act out the movements.

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Word search

Bible link

any word

What you need:

a selection of letters of the alphabet (such as magnetic ones, or Scrabble letters, or even food ones, such as alphabet pasta)

a large tray or plate

What you do:

See how many names of Bible people you can spell out using the various letters. Tell each other what you know about those people.

If you’re stuck, try making some of these names with the letters and then read their stories in the Bible:

Gideon (Judges 6:7–24);

Martha (Luke 10:38–42);

Dorcas (Acts 9:36–42);

Onesimus (Philemon 4–22).

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Have a guess!

Bible link

any

What you need:

scrap paper and pencils

What you do:

This game is sometimes known as “Clumps”. One person doesn’t join in, but keeps a list of Bible stories for the artists to work through.

Someone else draws each scene and the others see if they can guess what it is. Different people can do the drawing each time. (Younger children could pair up with someone to gently help them.)

There’s one rule – the artist may not speak, nod or shake their head until the others guess correctly. To make it more than just a bit of fun, find the Bible reference and talk about each story and what happened next.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Photo story

Bible link

any

What you need:

a digital camera or camera phone

a pencil and paper

simple costumes and a few props, as appropriate

What you do:

Choose one of the following Bible stories and read it together:

David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4–51);

Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21–43);

Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38–42);

Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10).

Decide together on a director/producer, a photographer, who will play each character (you may need to “double up”) and how many different scenes you want to depict. Keep it simple – too many complicated scenes could take hours! It’s also worth taking a couple of shots of each scene, to allow for mistakes.

Divide the story into, say, ten different scenes and work out how to portray each part of the story. Collect simple props and costumes as appropriate and you’re ready for action!

Download and print the photos or put them into a presentation (such as PowerPoint). Make “speech bubbles” from white sticky labels, or write captions if necessary – some scenes will speak for themselves!

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Crossword compiler

Bible link

any

What you do:

Make up your own crosswords!

Choose a passage of the Bible: for example, Mary’s song of praise (Luke 1:46–55). When you have read it, choose some important words from it. Try to fit them together to form a simple crossword. Or download a free app to your tablet or computer and use that to turn your list of words into a puzzle.

Make up clues, and challenge someone else in the family or a friend to solve your puzzle.

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Outburst!

Bible link

many!

What you do:

Ask the youngest member of the family to choose a letter of the alphabet, then get everyone to think of a Bible person whose name begins with that letter.

Now see how much you know about each person, and perhaps read their story in the Bible. You may need to use a concordance or Bible dictionary.

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Remember this…

Bible link

single verses

What you need:

a large-ish sheet of paper and a pen or pencil (or chalkboard and chalk; or whiteboard and pen)

What you do:

One person chooses a Bible verse from the list below and, using blanks for the letter of each word, spaces it out on a sheet of paper.

For example, “He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) would be written out as follows:

“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _” (_ _ _ _ _ _ _:_)

Everyone else then guesses a letter of the alphabet in turn, and any letters that are guessed correctly are filled in, until the verse and Bible reference are complete. Letters not in the verse are written at the bottom of the paper.

Now see if everyone can remember the verse. A good way to learn it is to read it together several times, covering up a different word each time. Challenge each other to say the verse during the day and see who can still remember it. Encourage everyone to remember it whatever they are doing tomorrow!

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

I like…

Bible link

Romans 12:10; 14:19

What you do:

Read Romans 12:10 and 14:19 together.

Here's one way to do what the Bible says, and encourage each other. Sit in a circle. Take it in turns to say, “I like you because…” to the people on either side of you. Think of some good reasons to finish the sentence each time.

How did you feel when it was your turn to be told, “I like you because…”? How did you feel when it was your turn to tell other people?

You could hold hands while one person reads this prayer:

Thank you, God our Father, for each person in our family and for the special things we enjoy about each other. Amen.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Twelves

Bible link

1 Chronicles 2:1,2; Joshua 3:12,13; Mark 3:13–19

What you do:

Can you find 12 objects all the same, for example spoons, paper clips or coins? See how many different ways there are of dividing the 12 objects into equal groups, such as twos and fours.

Groups of 12 people together come up quite often in the Bible. Can you think of times when this happened? Look up 1 Chronicles 2:1,2; Joshua 3:12,13; Mark 3:13–19, if you need help to get started.

Can you say why 12 is a good number of people to have for some important job? Perhaps thinking about how many ways you could divide your 12 objects will help answer this question!

Why not name 12 people you know and pray for them especially this week?

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Threes

Bible link

2 Corinthians 13:13

What you do:

Go and look for things to do with the number three. You could choose a book about “The Three Bears”, something triangular or anything in a set of three.

Can you think of any parts of the Bible to do with the number three? If not, try these to get you started:

three sons of Noah (Genesis 5:32);

three branches and three baskets in dreams (Genesis 40:5–23);

three times Peter denied Jesus (John 13:36–38).

Did you remember the three persons of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13)?

How about thinking of three things to thank God for?

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Living stones

Bible link

Psalm 127:1; 1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:22

What you need:

some clean, medium-sized stones, allowing for one each and some extra

white sticky labels, enough for one per person

What you do:

First, see if you can find two identical stones. (You should find this impossible!) Now, ask each member of the family to put their name on a label and stick it on to the stone of their choice.

Everyone then builds a wall or a tower together, using all the named stones.

Now see if you can fill in the gaps in these phrases:

The Bible tells us that God is like a ________________ (Psalm 127:1).

We are like ______________ _______________ (1 Peter 2:5).

We are being built into a place where God ______________ (Ephesians 2:22).

Who “holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple” (Ephesians 2:21)?

Pray quietly now and ask him to help you to be a building fit for God to live in. Each person could keep their stone as a reminder.

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Odd one out

Look up the references in the Bible to find the “number” in each. Then work out which is the odd one out.

The number of days in a week (Genesis 2:2).

The number of years Jacob first worked to marry Rachel (Genesis 29:20).

The number of years of famine in Egypt (Genesis 41:29).

The number of times Naaman washed in the river (2 Kings 5:14).

The number of times Joshua ordered the people to march around Jericho (Joshua 6:4).

The number of sons Job had (Job 1:2).

The number of loaves before Jesus fed 4,000 people (Mark 8:6).

The number of water jars when Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:6).

Here’s how to find a reference in a printed Bible:

The Bible is split into two sections (the Old Testament and the New Testament). These two testaments are split into books (such as Genesis, Psalms or Luke).

The books are split into chapters (the biggest book, Psalms, has 150 chapters!) and those chapters are split into verses (the longest chapter is Psalm 119 with 176 verses!).

Sometimes you’ll see a Bible verse written like this: Genesis 15:6. Here is how you tell which verse to read:

Genesis means we need to look for the Bible book of Genesis. If you are not sure where this is, look for the Contents page near the beginning of the Bible.

15 means we need to look for the big number 15; we call it chapter 15.

6 means we need to look for the little number 6; we call it verse 6.

In the Contemporary English Version (the Bible translation used in Guardians of Ancora), Genesis 15:6 reads: “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord was pleased with him.”

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Sort it out

Bible link

Proverbs 17:14

What you do:

Imagine that three people in your family all want to watch different television programmes, on three different channels, at the same time! What do you think would happen? Can you act or mime it out?

What other things do you argue about sometimes? Do any of these words describe what happens: “arguing”; “sulking”; “scolding”; “listening”; “shouting”; “giving in”; “pleading”?

Read Proverbs 17:14. What do you think might be the best way to settle an argument? Talk about it together. (Some of these Bible verses might help: Romans 12:10; Galatians 6:9,10; Ephesians 6:1–4; Colossians 3:13–15.)

Pray: “Dear God, when there are arguments or upsets in our family, please help us to sort them out. Help us to listen to each other’s points of view. Help us to give in if we need to. Please help us sort things out in the very best way for everyone. Amen.”

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Numbers quiz

What you need:

a Bible, Bible dictionary or concordance (online or printed)

What you do:

Use the Internet, reference books and people-resources to work together to find the answers to these questions.

How many days did it rain when Noah was in the Ark? (40)

Paul was shipwrecked three times – true or false? (True)

True or false? Jesus had 14 disciples. (False – 12)

How many Gospels are there? (Four)

God gave Moses ten of these on Mount Sinai – what were they? (Commandments/rules)

How many days did it take God to make the world? (Six)

Did Jacob have 12 sons, or 12 daughters? (Sons)

How many stones did David pick up to sling at Goliath? (Five)

How many did he use? (One)

What did God do on the seventh day of creation? (He rested)

How much was Judas paid to betray Jesus? (30 silver coins)

God called Samuel twice in the night – true or false? (False – four times)

What did Daniel do three times a day at an open window? (Pray)

True or false? There are 150 psalms in the Bible. (True)

The longest psalm is Psalm 19 – true or false? (False – 119)

How many verses does Psalm 119 have – 174, 175 or 176? (176)

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Family tree

Bible link

Ephesians 3:14–21

What you need:

a very large sheet of paper (such as two pieces of lining paper taped together)

photos of family members

felt-tip pens

sticky tack or glue

What you do:

Draw the outline of a large tree on your paper. Give it roots, a big trunk, branches and leaves.

Together, make a list of as many members of your family as you can. (This could include those who have died.)

Now transfer this list to your family tree in the following way:

Stick photos, draw pictures or write the names of the grandparents’ generation around the roots.

Do the same with the parents’ generation on the trunk.

The youngest generation goes on the branches.

If you like, you could add close family friends too – they could go on the leaves!

As you look at your family tree, ask someone to read Ephesians 3:14–21 as a prayer for your family.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

More like Jesus…

Bible link

Galatians 5:22,23

What you need:

a small branch or large twig, “planted” in a pot (if this is difficult to organise, a drawing of a tree with a trunk and bare branches would be fine)

a simple cardboard template of fruit, such as an apple or pear

at least nine sheets of paper, some felt-tip pens and several pairs of scissors

Cut out nine pieces of fruit for the “tree”, write one thing from the list on each one and put them on the branches.

As each piece of fruit is added to the tree, read these Bible verses:

Love (1 John 3:18);

Joy (Romans 15:13);

Peace (John 14:27);

Patience (Ephesians 4:2);

Kindness (Ephesians 4:32);

Goodness (Luke 6:27);

Faithfulness (Deuteronomy 11:22);

Humility (Romans 12:3);

Self-control (1 Peter 4:7).

In turn, each person chooses one “fruit” that they need at the moment (such as patience) and takes it off the tree (you may need to make duplicates). Show each other your fruit, and share why you chose it.

Pray quietly and ask for God’s help to produce it in your life. Keep your piece of fruit as a reminder!

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Have your cake

Bible link

James 2:14–16

What you need:

a small cake and a knife to cut it with

What you do:

One person needs to cut the cake up into very different-sized pieces, making sure there are not quite enough slices for everyone. They pass the cake around, having first taken the largest piece for themselves!

When those who had cake have eaten theirs, talk about what happened: Was it fair? Did people with cake share it with those who didn’t get any? How did the people with cake feel? How did those without feel?

Talk about how this shows us what it must be like to live in a country where food is scarce. One meal a day is all some people can hope for, and even when food is available it’s not shared out fairly.

Think together of places where this is happening, such as countries torn apart by war or famine.

Read James 2:14–16 together, and decide what you can do as a family to help people who don’t have enough to eat. One way would be to give money regularly to a relief agency. Ask at your church for an address. Then write for more information.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Fist or palm

Bible link

Titus 3:1,2

What you do:

For this game, you need two people to play, as well as a scorer. On the count of three, both players either make a fist or show an upturned palm. This must be done at exactly the same moment.

Score as follows:

A fist always scores 3.

A palm scores 1, except when both players show a palm. Then both score 5.

After ten times, give another two people a chance to play and continue until everyone has had at least one turn.

(Don’t read this paragraph until you’ve played the game!) When everyone has had a turn, find out which couple of players scored the most when they played each other. Add the total points scored in each individual game to discover this. The two people with the highest combined score are the winners!

The fist means “war” and the palm is “peace”. In real life, people who work together for peace are the winners and, in fact, everyone wins when there is peace. Read Titus 3:1,2. What difference would it make in your family, home or town if everyone worked together for peace?

This activity will motivate children with an action-centred approach to knowing God.

Each person takes a slip and takes it in turn to mime the feeling on their paper, while everyone else guesses what they’re miming. Talk together about what you could say to someone who felt like that.

Read 1 Peter 5:7. God cares for us no matter how we’re feeling. Can you think of ways he shows us his love and care? Often it’s through other people helping us.

Read Galatians 6:2. Is there someone you know who is feeling tired, lonely or sad at the moment?

Think of ways you could care for them (eg helping with the housework, inviting them for a meal or sending them a card or some flowers). Maybe you could put one of your ideas into practice!

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

I belong

Bible link

1 Corinthians 12:14–22,27

What you need:

two scarves – one for a blindfold and the other for a sling

What you do:

Put one person’s arm in a sling. Give them some simple tasks to do (such as cleaning their teeth, tying their shoelaces or eating something).

How easy was it for them to do those things? Now blindfold someone else and get them to walk across the room. Was it easy?

If our bodies are going to work properly we need all the different parts!

Read 1 Corinthians 12:14–22,27 together.

In your home, think of some of the different jobs that people do so that everything can work properly. Who does what? Can you think of a job that each person could help with? We’re all needed!

If you go to a church, try the same idea for jobs that make the church work more easily.

Thank God for everyone who helps others.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Sweet words

Bible link

Proverbs 16:24

What you need:

honey

What you do:

If you have any honey, let everyone have a tiny taste. (Remember not to give honey to babies or very young children.) If not, share out something else sweet to remind you of the sweet taste of honey.

What is like honey? Read Proverbs 16:24 to find out. Talk about kind words being like honey and think of how good it is when someone says something kind about you.

And, if kind words are like honey, what are unkind words like? What are your ideas?

Pray together and ask God to help you spread honey wherever you are as you say kind words to one another.

This activity will encourage children with an emotion-centred approach to knowing God.

Bible hunt

Bible link

2 Timothy 3:16,17

What you need:

paper and pens

What you do:

Read 2 Timothy 3:16,17 together.

Can you find five things that the Bible helps us to do? Maybe someone could write five things on a small piece of paper which could be stuck on the fridge door to remind family members to read their Bible, or even to play Guardians of Ancora!

Now think of a “good deed” (verse 17) that you could do tomorrow. When you’ve decided, tell everyone else what you’ve planned, then it should happen!

Pray: “Lord God, thank you for the Bible. Thank you that we can read it whenever we like. Thank you that it tells us about you and the way you want us to live. Help us serve you tomorrow when we… (mention your plans).”

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Money, money, money

Bible link

Ecclesiastes 5:10; Matthew 6:24; 1 Timothy 6:10

What you do:

How much money can you find in the house? (Be careful not to mix up different people’s money!)

Talk about the amount you have and discuss some of the things you could spend the money on – both sensible ideas (such as food and clothes) and crazy ideas (for instance, you could buy up all the party poppers in town!).

If you had all the money in the world, what would you do?

Find out some of the things the Bible says about money (see Ecclesiastes 5:10; Matthew 6:24; 1 Timothy 6:10).

Then either thank God for the money you have and ask him to help you to use it sensibly, or talk about whether having a lot of money can ever be wrong.

This activity will interest children with a word-centred approach to knowing God.

Time alone

Bible link

Mark 6:30–34

What you do:

What would you do on your perfect day? Would there be lots of activities to do and lots of people around? Or would you choose a quiet day alone or with a few friends?

Read in Mark 6:30–34 about one day when Jesus had lots to do and lots of people around. Why did Jesus think that his friends (his “disciples”) needed some time alone? Say how he might have felt when he “saw the large crowd”.

Are there people in your family who especially like being alone? Do you all like being alone sometimes? What can you do to help those who want to have time by themselves (and still be safe, of course)?

Talk to God about how people need to be quiet sometimes and tell him your plans to help each other to find those times.

This activity will inspire children with a symbol-centred approach to knowing God.